Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Bed times

When Sophie was younger... much younger around 1 year old, we used to wonder if Sophie would be a early sleeper. The reason we were doubtful was because after she turned one month, she was very colicky and would cry and cry. So we tried everything in the books, white noise (hair dryer), baby wearing, rocking. On some days, some of these methods were effective, on other days, oh don't even remind me. We would be so frustrated that we were short of packing her in the car and driving around the estate, which trust me, I've heard tales like that from desperate parents.

And as predicted, after she turned 3 months, things improved. But as she didn't used to be put to bed early (it was usually round 10 after all we tried), she didn't get into a routine of going to bed early.

Fast forward many months ahead now....I do think that she's better with a bed time routine. These days she has dinner in school and sometimes joins us for a small bite while we eat, followed by some playing or reading, then a quick shower and a bottle of milk before she drifts to dreamland. If we're lucky like today, she asked for her milk at 9 and slept at 9:35pm. But most days she'll sleep at 10pm.

Playing before bed time

Between Alexis and myself, I've become the dedicated one to put her to sleep. I would like to think that she enjoys having "little conversations" with Mama while she drinks her milk and I ask about her day, sing her lullaby, plant kisses on her cheeks and say a prayer for her. Most nights she has one hand on her milk bottle and her other hand is stroking my arm like a little kitten or when she simply holds my hand to just be close to Mama. What I enjoy the most is when my little girl pulls me close to her and showers me with her sweet little kisses. Awwww.... Makes it all worthwhile to sacrifice TV personal time.

But one questions does linger on my mind. Just when will she learn to sleep on her own again? Due to my surgery, we have just decided to let her sleep with Daddy while I sleep in her room so that she wouldn't kick me in the middle of the night. Should we start our sleep training again?